Our backyard trampoline provided endless hours of good clean American fun throughout the young childhood years of our family. Rim-rattling dunks. Death-defying double flips. Spine-tingling seats drops. We saw it all on display amidst the chaos of the backyard shenanigans. Mostly idle and covered with leaves now, there was a time when the trampoline served as the focal point of our outside entertainment system.
If you really wanted to fly, you had to master the popcorn double-bounce maneuver. It was something our kids had down to a science, and it nearly sent them hurtling over the trampoline “safety” netting several times. On one typical day, my daughters were bouncing away with a couple of friends, when the perfect double-bounce occurred. My daughter Courtney was launched into a shallow orbit and slammed into one of the trampoline posts. Ouch!
We were used to the minor mishaps of a typical childhood, so my wife and I calmly brought her up to the couch to rest and recover. Our go-to comfort aid was a Hello Kitty! Boo-Boo Pad we kept in the freezer. Slightly bigger than a silver dollar, the Boo-Boo Pad served as a makeshift ice pack for life’s little bumps and bruises. It was a rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-get-back-in-there remedy that served as a panacea for a litany of Clark injuries. But after an hour or so, Courtney was not improving. When I tried to help her off the couch, she screamed in agony. Rut Roh!
My wife finally convinced me that she should go to the hospital. Just to be safe. When we arrived at the emergency room, it was, of course, immediately diagnosed as a compound fracture of the collarbone. Pretty sure most doctors don’t recommend the application of a cold Boo-Boo Pad to treat a broken bone. My “Dad of the Year” candidacy was in serious jeopardy!
It was not my finest parenting moment. But it also provided a valuable lesson in resiliency for the rest of us. Sometimes a Band-Aid fix simply doesn’t work. Sometimes, we have to step back and change our approach entirely.
We Can’t Always Smooth It Over
In our work lives, we may be woefully behind on our sales goals. We may be losing massive market share to the competition. We may be losing employees at an alarming rate. We may feel unfulfilled and underutilized. We want to improve and find relief to move forward. So we make a few extra calls to build our pipeline. We study and try to emulate the competition. We send surveys to our employees. We seek the advice of our mentors. These are all helpful and certainly a step in the right direction. But we have to be honest with ourselves. Are more wholesale changes needed?
Perhaps we need a fundamentally different approach to our sales plan. Perhaps we need to change our business model entirely. Perhaps we need to sit down face-to-face with each employee to assess the root cause of their dissatisfaction. Perhaps we need to pursue an entirely different company or career path. There are times when we need to rub some dirt on our problems and saddle up. But some issues cut deeper. Some issues require a fundamental and radical shift in strategy. Sometimes the Boo-Boo Pad won’t fix the broken bones of our career.
We Need a Concrete Approach
And the same is true in our personal lives. Cutting out the daily Starbucks excursion won’t fix our massive financial problems. Listening to positive podcasts won’t immediately cure our depression. Getting a pet won’t won’t eliminate our loneliness. Masking our relationship issues through avoidance and denial only temporarily deadens the pain. These are coping mechanisms. And they provide short-term relief. But a deeper solution is needed.
Perhaps we need an end-to-end plan to improve our cash flow and curtail our spending. Perhaps we need to seek professional help. Perhaps we need to break out of our comfort zone and seek human interaction. Perhaps we need to communicate directly with our adversaries. There is only so long we can hold back the flood with a flimsy levee. Eventually, we need to fortify our lives with concrete.
Get Back in the Game
We all want to feel happy and avoid the pain. We all want to improve and move forward with our lives. But quick fixes and half-measures will not help us stay resilient. We need to step back and examine our struggles with a fresh perspective. We need to go deeper and get more creative with our approach to solving our issues. We need to be more holistic in our process and take our challenges seriously.
There are times when we can rub some dirt on our issues and get right back in the game. But some issues require far more discernment. Some issues need our full attention. And that Hello Kitty! Boo-Boo Pad just won’t cut it.